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Research on implicit processes has become increasingly popular during the past two decades. Nevertheless, relatively little attention has been given to clarifying the meaning of the concept implicit. This chapter proposes that implicit processes are processes that possess features of automaticity. Because different automaticity features do not necessarily co-occur, the chapter recommends specifying the automaticity features one has in mind when using the term “implicit.” An overview is provided of the definitions of the various automaticity features that are used in the cognitive...

Research on implicit processes has become increasingly popular during the past two decades. Nevertheless, relatively little attention has been given to clarifying the meaning of the concept implicit. This chapter proposes that implicit processes are processes that possess features of automaticity. Because different automaticity features do not necessarily co-occur, the chapter recommends specifying the automaticity features one has in mind when using the term “implicit.” An overview is provided of the definitions of the various automaticity features that are used in the cognitive decompositional approach of automaticity. Because it is difficult to diagnose the cognitive automaticity features of mental processes, the chapter explores for the first time a functional decompositional approach to automaticity in which automaticity features are defined in nonmental terms and used to describe effects. The chapter ends with discussion of implications of the analysis for research on the role of implicit processes in scientific behavior.